Comments on: When To Buy US Dollars and How to Take Advantage of the Canadian-USD Exchange Rate

By: How Much Money the Winter Olympics 2010 (Vancouver) Will Bring to the Canadian (BC) Economy and Benefit the Canadian Dollar

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 06:32:47 +0000

[...] When to Buy Dollars and How To Take Advantage of the USD-CAD Rate [...]

By: What To Do With Your Money When CAD Nears Parity With USD

What To Do With Your Money When CAD Nears Parity With USD — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:32:00 +0000

[...] written previously about how you can build up your reserve of US dollars when the loonie edges higher. But here I just want to remind you of why you might want to do so [...]

By: Still A Good Time for Canadians To Purchase US Dollars While The Loonie Is High | MoneyEnergy

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:01:29 +0000

[...] but was still buying 93.1 cents USD (down from a Monday high of 93.9 cents USD). Last Friday the Canadian dollar was at 92 cents USD. If you didn’t get a chance to purchase American dollars then, consider doing so [...]

By: Best of Personal Finance: ‘Screw It, I’m Buying an Air Conditioner’ Edition |

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:03:34 +0000

[...] Canadians traveling to the U.S., you should buy your American dinero before arriving, according to Get Money Energy. However, just as an FYI, we are already all sold out of "les aire condtiounieres", so [...]

By: Friday Links | The Canadian Finance Blog

Friday Links | The Canadian Finance Blog — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:06:42 +0000

[...] Money Energy has a post on when to buy US dollars and how to take advantage of the Canadian-USD exchange rate. [...]

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:59:33 +0000

BMO currently has a no fee, US dollar Mosiak Mastercard with a .05% cashback option or airmiles option (they just changed this card to 1 airmile for every $20.
I too use a local exchange place in T.O. to get US dollars and pay off my credit card that way. Until recently, my local exchange place always was .0075 better than the banks “preferred” rate. When they stop adjusting their rate regularly to milk to improving US dollar rate, I called around and found another local place with a better exchange. Just do a search and call around.

By: MoneyEnergy

MoneyEnergy — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:33:11 +0000

@Squawkfox – Yes, I think there are some occasional fees on my US dollar account if I make more than one withdrawal a month (which I don’t, since I primarily use it for savings). I should double check again, though – I know there isn’t a monthly or annual sort of fee (this is through TD) – possibly because I am in student status with them. If there had been, I wouldn’t have opened it.

By: Squawkfox

Squawkfox — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:57:30 +0000

I’ve looked a few times at opening a US Account here in Canada, but the fees are insane. Same with a US credit card. I bank with PC Financial so I have a very low tolerance for paying monthly banking fees.

By: MoneyEnergy

MoneyEnergy — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:16:00 +0000

@Alan – yes, even 90 cents is still pretty good. Historical averages show that somewhere around 82 cents is where the market “wants” it to be, so the higher above that, the better for us as travelers. Carrying cash… I probably wouldn’t carry more than $500 at a time… I’d probably just take the easy way out and use an ATM for more than that while I was there. As for CC fees, if the card is issued by your bank, maybe you can get these reduced if you link it to your chequing account too (loyalty, etc.)? The card I have is actually issued here in the US by Citibank, so there are no fees beyond the interest rate, I believe. And yes, do tell your bank you’re traveling, I’ve had my VISA frozen when I tried to use it here, so I had to call them about it….

By: Alan @ Saving For Serenity

Alan @ Saving For Serenity — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:01:45 +0000

This is an incredibly timely post, as I am traveling to the US in 2 weeks! I’ve actually been watching the exchange rate, and so I actually bought $500 US about a week ago. So I could’ve saved a bit more if I waited, but it was at 90 cents to the dollar, which is still pretty good. I wanted to make sure it didn’t drop down on me.

I’ve actually found a currency exchange store that offers better rates than my bank, so that is where I go.

How do you feel about carrying a ton of cash around when you’re traveling though? I don’t like exchanging all the cash I need ahead of time because I don’t want all my money to be so easily lost or stolen.

Also, don’t most US denomination Canadian credit cards come with fees? I looked into a couple, but most had some pretty impressive costs associated with them. It might be worth it if you’re traveling there a lot though.

Oh, and lastly, don’t forget to call your bank & credit card company to tell them that you’re traveling or else they might freeze your account!